Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1887-12-08
TRAIN DISPATCHING.
A Position That Requires Men oi
Iron Nerve and Quick Brains.
The Awful Consequences Likely to Follow
Single Mistake--A Thrilling Story
Told by a Commercial Trav-
al

accident caused by an incompe-
tent train-dispatcher," remarked a
gentleman in an uptown hotel, as he
laid down a newspaper after reading
an account of railroad collision.
"People are beginning to realize the
fact that two trains can't pass each
other on a single track" he remarked,
dryly.
The gentleman was superintendent
of Western railroad who had worked
his way up from telegraph operator,
stopping for sixteen years in dis
patcher's position before superin-
tendency was awarded him. 10 cir
c.e of friends he spoke of the dangers
OF travel and the duties of train-dis-
patcher.
Few people," he said, "even those
who travel continually, know the dam
ger that they are in while rushing
over mountains and through valleys
at the rate of forty miles an hour,
with trains in front of them, trains be-
hind them, passenger, freight, excur-
sion, construction, special and wild
trains. laundering along on the same
track. In the East, where nearly every
road is double-tracked, the danger is
materially diminished, but the great
network of roads that spreads like a
tisherman's net over the great West is
mostly single track, and requires men
of iron nerve and quick brains to ham
die the trains One of our dispatch
ers virtually holds the lives of our pas
sengers at the ends of his fingers.
Suppose for moment dis
patcher should lose his head, what is
the resultP An awful catastrophe.
But it is seldom, comparatively speak
ing, that an accident or collision oc-
ours, and for this we can thank the
lynX-eyed, quick-witted and nimble-
fingered man, who sits in his office
hundreds of miles away, and controls
the movements of his engineers and
conductors, by the aid of his servant,
electricity. Before him lies a train
sheet, divided into subdivisions, with
the names of each station, and a
column for each train, both east and
west-bound, entered thereon. When
train leaves station, the operator
reports it to the dispatcher as arriving
and departing at whatever time it
may be, which is entered on the sheet
Thus, by glancing at his train-sheet,
the dispatcher can tell where each
train is. There are roads where dis
patcher has charge of two freight
divisions of one hundred miles
each. On each division are thirty
trains each way, making one hundred
and twenty trains controlled by one
man, with, possibly, one assistant.
1--WE will suppose that train is
late, and can not make its meeting
point. This is time when the tele.
graph must straighten things out and
if not done well snarl of trains viii
be the result. Train 10 is behind
time, which happens from various
causes. The regular meeting point
with train is at A. Not being ablt
to make it, the dispatcher sends an or
der first to Train at c. The follow
ing is the generally-accepted style o
an order:
To Conductor and Engineer No. c: Hold
c until Train 10 arrives. Answer w. W. C.
1.-The operator at c then displays {
signal, flag by day and lamp b,
night, that warns the conductor o
Train not to pass c without ascer
tanning what the signal is out for
When the orders are delivered the con
ductor and engineer sign them AM
they are repeated to the dispatcher
who, if they are correct answers bacl
20. K The dispatcher then sends al
order to Train 10 as follows:
To Conductor and Engineer Train 10 A: Ru
TO regardless OF Train T. Answer. w. W.
"When this is signed, repeated an
o. K'd the train pulls out and make
the meeting point. Were it not TO
this order the conductor would have t
run his train according to arule on tn
back of the time-card. This rule
that a train not having the right c
way must wait at its meeting poin
thirty minutes for variation of watches
and then it can proceed to its mex
meeting point. The train having tn
right of way also waits five minute
for variation of watches. Trains al
ella sifed. passenger trains having tn
right of way over freights and the la
ter over work trains.
This may look very simple, bJ
when you take into consideration thu
the two trains in question are only
small part of the number that are,
the same time, under the supervise
Of the dispatcher, it will be seen th'